Once Upon A Time
by LaylaPlum
Summary: [UPDATED] A small collection of drabbles... (many different pairings)
1. Butterknife

**ONCE UPON A TIME**

**a collection of drabbles**

**Once upon a Butterknife**

_Maybe this was a bad id-_

But Neji had no time to finish his thought as a simple, seemingly innocent butterknife came murderously flying towards his stomach. Neji dropped to the ground, the knife whizzing by his head a bit too close for comfort.

It had all been his idea in the first place. Sakura and Lee had taken his normal training ground down by the river, so Neji had offered his home in it's place.

All nice and well thought out, this one was.

"Come on, Neji! It's just a butterknife! It's not going to hurt you," Tenten mocked as she took threw the polished utensil towards her partner, this time aiming for his face. Neji dodged it with grace, but Tenten, no more weapons at her disposal, chose that moment to pounce.

Unfortunately, neither of them noticed the mischievously placed staircase two feet behind Neji. Neji only had time to wrap his hands around her waist before he lost his balance, and both of them went tumbling down.

What seemed like a hundred steps later, Neji and Tenten finally hit the ground, their groans echoing down the hall. Tenten lifted her head, only to find herself gazing into his pearly white eyes. She grinned and rubbed her nose against his, planting a small kiss on his lips. Tenten, noticing the butterknife lying unsuspectingly on the wooden floor a few feet away, helped Neji to his feet. But before she could pick up her "Ultimate Weapon of Disaster", Neji spun her around and locked his lips with hers.

Maybe a butterknife battle wasn't such a bad idea after all...


	2. Ribbon

**Once Upon a Ribbon**

Just a ribbon- nothing less, nothing more. But Shikamaru watched her stare at the strip of cloth with such an intensity that it made the hair on the back of his neck stand straight. Was she trying to burn a hole in it? Maybe it was just because she scared him...

"Hey, Ino," he called out to her. She looked up, startled, and he met her teary gaze. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks to lips that quivered with anger. Though he had seen Ino crying plenty of times in the twelve long (long, long, long, troublesome-ly long) years that he'd known her, Shikamaru couldn't remember a time when she had seemed quite so lost and confused. He slowly sat down next to the blonde as she sat up straight and wiped her tears with the familiar looking ribbon balled up in her fist. Shikamaru took a stab at guessing, "Didn't you give that to your pink-haired friend..uh..Sakura, was it?"

Ino froze at the name, and the tears she tried to stifle began to flow again as she furrowed her brow. "Yes, but she is no longer my _friend._" There was a fire in her teal eyes as she spoke. "She thinks that because I have a crush on Sasuke, we can't be friends anymore. It now seems that we must become enemies because of him."

"Do you like him?"

Ino snorted. "Of course I do! What kind of girl would I be if I didn't? He's dreamy, handsome, and much too cool to hang out with any of us! He's stronger than everyone else, smarter than everyone else, and he's totally going to be Hokage some day. What girl wouldn't like him?" Shikamaru grinned and turned away from her face to gaze up at the sky.

"Hn.." Closing his eyes, Shikamaru leaned back on his hands and gazed up at the sky. The two of them sat there while Ino collectd herself, tossing the ribbon into the wind and wiping her final tears away. Minutes passed, and as he was about to leave for home, small tentative fingers latched onto his. Shocked, Shikamaru's gaze flew to Ino.

She smiled and pulled him up to his feet. "Walk me home."

Matter-of-fact and without question, which was so like her, as she dragged him along. And Shikamaru couldn't help but smile.


	3. Locked Doors

**Once Upon a Door Lock**

Before Sasuke betrayed Konoha, before Kurenai fell in love with Asuma, and before Naruto attempted to sneak a peak at Kakashi's sick Make-Out Paradise novels; Neji, Tenten, and Lee had finally (and somewhat unfortunately) become a team. At first, the three seemed to abhor each other, Neji and Tenten teaming up on Lee and what not. But over time, things changed between them, and they had very strongly become the best of friends.

At the Hyuuga Compound, everyone knew Lee and Tenten as if they were family. The two would stop by to pick up Neji for a mission, to train, or just to say "hey". In the beginning, Lee and Tenten would nervously knock on the door and snap into a terrified bow when Hiashi opened the front gate. But after the residents of the compound got used to the pair stopping by almost everyday, Lee and Tenten realized that there was no need for formalities. Just jump the fence and be on their way.

Neji's family knew Tenten and Lee as his best (and probably only) friends, and grew comfortable with them roaming the halls. That's what friends do, right? ..Well friends until...

They found out what Neji and Tenten were doing behind his closed door. Hinata's shriek of embarrassment could be heard down the halls, and she quickly forced a large amount of milk-eyed servants and her fuming younger sister out the door.

Ever since, Neji realized it would be good idea to probably use the lock on his door, because privacy can lead to some pretty amazing things.


	4. Teddy Bears

**Once upon a teddy bear**

There he sat, the small five-year-old boy, with a brown teddy bear in one hand and an orange one in the other, playing alone. Under the shade of a pine tree, he had given each doll a different sounding growl. They both had names, as she had found out, for he was narrating the story.

Sakura giggled lightly, trying not to distract the other child from his play. He was so cute, and she couldn't help but watch him. The raven-haired child raised the two bears and made their growly noises before smashed the bears together into each other. He dropped the orange bear onto the ground, acting as if the brown doll was victorious from the clash.

Until Sakura skipped out from the bushes to pick up the orange bear and growl back.

Sasuke stared at the girl, but soon laughed and tackled the orange bear with the brown one again, but orange came back for a vengeance.

"I'm Sasuke," he said to her.

"I'm Sakura. It's nice to meet you."


End file.
